


Bitter and Sweet Like You and Me

by puff22_2001



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Caffeine Addiction, Caffeine Withdrawal, Coffee, Gen, Male Friendship, Tea
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-03-23
Updated: 2014-03-23
Packaged: 2018-01-16 19:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1358764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/puff22_2001/pseuds/puff22_2001
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hermann and Newt make dubious drink choices. This will bite them in the ass.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Bitter and Sweet Like You and Me

**Author's Note:**

> This story is based on my post on Tumblr:
> 
> "Pacific Rim AU: Everything is exactly the same except that Hermann only drinks coffee and Newt only drinks tea. The one time that they switched Hermann fell asleep during an equation and Newt couldn’t sleep for four days."
> 
> The post hit a chord with a lot of people so I figured, "Why not actually write it?" As much as I love Tea!Hermann and Coffee!Newt as depicted in the fandom, it's always fun to shake things up now and again.

“Hey, Herms, gimme some of your coffee.” Newt demanded at his side as Hermann took out the little instant packet from his desk drawer. Tendo hadn’t given him precious, real grounds yet for the week. Hermann was thus stuck using the awful Shatterdome rations instead. Java was also not a necessity, so it was a trial to get anything resembling coffee, even if it did taste like watered down dirt.

“Newton, I am not giving you my last packet.” Hermann said stolidly as he poured the brown dust into his favorite mug. His Breach model was going nowhere and he needed the boost. Neither he nor Newt had slept more than a few hours for days. Hermann definitely did not want to give Newt his only source of energy when he was so close to—and yet so far from—a breakthrough.

“Come on, Man! I’ll trade you some of my tea. You’re British; you should drink tea anyway.” Newt’s voice took on the special whining tone it had when he wanted something quite a lot. Hermann would have ignored it except he was already aggravated at his inability to portion out his coffee to last. He couldn’t help that he’d begun drinking it as a young teenager to keep him awake during boring lectures. Now, decades later, it was a comfort and a need.

Tendo gave him a small bit of his own real coffee each week in exchange for chocolate. Yet, the technician refused to tell Hermann where he could get the black gold himself. “I don’t want to dry up the market.” Tendo would say when Hermann would ask. Instead he’d drink his decent coffee within the first two days of the week, reusing the grounds over and over. Then he'd move on to the instant. The little packets would usually last until Tendo’s visit, except during hard weeks like that one.

“Your faith in stereotypes never fails to amaze and disappoint me.”

“Please, Dude! I’m so close to figuring out Mutavore’s digestive system but I’m falling asleep at my table." Newt said with his wheedling tone. “I need something to keep me awake and there’s not enough caffeine in my tea.” Newt drank tea, which had surprised Hermann quite a bit when he’d found out. As much restless energy as Newt had, Hermann had assumed that he ate espresso powder straight from the jar. Newt said that coffee was too bitter when Hermann had asked, and then he’d made a rude comparison to Hermann. Hermann had thrown a piece of chalk at Newt’s head for that.

But today Hermann could see the bags under Newt’s eyes—no doubt mirrored under his own. Newt’s usually carefully styled hair was just messy after days of Newt pulling at it frustration. The man could use something to calm him and Hermann figured that a placebo affect might occur.

“Oh, all right. But I want your caramel chai in return.” Caramel was Hermann’s favorite flavor and if he was giving up his coffee he damn well better get his grounds’ worth. Newt, on the other hand, looked scandalized.

“You know I can only get one or two of those almost never! What about two bags of chamomile?” Although it occurred to Hermann that it was a bit absurd to be haggling over cheap drink packets, he also knew that he had the upper hand. Hermann’s smirk brought a scowl to Newt’s face.

“I only have the one packet left. You have several packets of tea left in your desk. Caramel chai or no deal, Newton.” Newt’s face went through a series of expressions before finally settling on pouty resignation. Hermann might have found it a bit cute if forced to make such an admission. All in all, Hermann was a little surprised at how fast Newt agreed to his deal. _He must be quite desperate._ Hermann thought with sympathy.

“Urg, fine! Fine. Just hand it over.” Hermann gave the mug to Newt who did not, he noticed, actually dump out the grounds to put in his own mug. Instead, the biologist went and filled Hermann’s at the sink with hot water. After putting the coffee down to steep on his desk nearby, Newt dug around in his drawer for his payment. He returned to Hermann with the prized packet and a sad sigh.

“Where’s your mug? You absconded with mine.”

“Really, Dude? ‘Absconded’? This isn’t Victorian England.” Newt said with a huff as he returned to his desk. He picked up the clean-ish mug sitting next to Hermann’s own, walked back, and held it out to Hermann. Hermann quirked an eyebrow but did not reach out for the dish.

“I ask that you clean it first.”

“Oh my God, you are such a fucking brat!” Newt said as he returned to the sink and scrubbed at the mug, rubbing off some of the cartoon axolotl’s face in the process. When he returned some minutes later (muttering all the while) the mug was now cleaner than Hermann had ever seen it. Newt was desperate to get to his java, Hermann could see.

“Thank you, Newton.” Hermann smiled as he noticed that Newt had also filled the mug with water so that Hermann would not have to get up himself. Newt shrugged and went to his own desk, sat down with a sigh, and picked up his coffee.

“Groooss.” Newt said after a giant swig. Hermann rolled his eyes and added the tea bag to the mug. He let it steep for a few minutes and then took a drink. It was a cheap brand but it was decent. Hermann had never particularly cared for tea, finding it much too bland, but it was nice to try something new now and then.

He continued to drink, unaware of what a terrible idea the switch would turn out to be.


End file.
